rev6
by minmb82
Summary: rev6


**Chapter 6**

_Chiira, 2 Shiaa , 4408, Faey Orthodox Calendar_

_ Thursday, 7 July 2022 Terran Standard Calendar_

_ Chiira, 2 Shiaa, year 1333 of the 97__th__ Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar_

_Sao Paolo, Brazil, Terra _

There was something dirty going on here on Terra, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Right now, the state of the offices of the U.N. up in New York could be best described as in a raw panic. He hadn't announced his arrival, not even to Kim, and instead of just going to his office and leaving like he usually did, he instead started poking around the offices that dealt with the surviving farm workers. He demanded access to their computers, he dug through their files and records, and the more he discovered, the angrier he got. By the time he left the office, virtually everyone that could run had done so, fleeing for imaginary appointments or sudden summons to other offices, and those poor souls that were forced to remain got to see a side of Jason that very few people got to see

And those few that had seen that side of him never wanted to see it again.

Simply put, the rules and policies concerning the farm workers had _not_ been followed. And on top of that, Jason heavily suspected that someone in the U.N. was diverting the money meant for the programs to help those workers and pocketing it, because he sure as hell couldn't find it. Even after fourteen years, there were still 21 different programs meant to help farm worker survivors, from ongoing psychological care to job training assistance to an entire office devoted to helping those people with any problem they might have, no matter how minor. The budgets for those offices were on the ledgers in the accounting files as going to the Department of Farm Management, which had jurisdiction over current and former farm workers, but it mysteriously vanished in a complex tangled web of deposits, transfers, and expenditures before it got to the people that needed it most.

Someone was stealing that money, and it had to be someone high up in the department, someone that could dictate policy to his underlings to make them stop running programs for which money was being allotted in the budget, then conceal the fact that those programs weren't active from the auditors..

And it wasn't just in the U.N. Something decidedly _sinister_ was hiding within the records of the Terra Medical Service. This morning, Songa had tried to access files on Kevin Ball from the time he worked on the farm, and she found them locked behind a top secret "eyes only" flag, which earned her a personal and very heated call from the Director of the Medical Service herself, Banlia Sodarre. She was _the boss_ of the Medical Service. Eyes Only was the highest security clearance that the Medical Service employed, and for them to lock the medical file of a Terran behind it…that was _suspicious_. It was the _only_ security clearance that Songa did not have, because only people who worked on Terra who had authorization and those in the main Medical Service HQ on Draconis could access those files. Songa couldn't see those files, but she _could_ find out how many other patients had that flag on their files…and what do you know, all of them were farm worker survivors from the subjugation. The Medical Service was hiding what happened to those people during the subjugation, and that was almost unheard of. The Medical Service had such a pristine reputation that the idea that they did _anything_ that would necessitate them covering it up afterward was nearly unthinkable.

But there was something there, and it was something that the Medical Service was trying to bury. But they weren't going to keep it hidden when someone with Jason's resources wanted it. Just two hours ago, he sicced Miaari on them, and he figured she'd completely own the Medical Service's computer system within the hour. While she was working on that, he had Siyhaa combing through the U.N.'s computer system and database trying to track down just exactly where and how that money was disappearing, and where it was going once it left the U.N. system. Siyhaa was the better choice for that because she might need to track money through a Moridon bank, and Brayrak Kruu would do Siyhaa a favor that he'd never do for Miaari.

The Moridon were many things, but they were _not_ criminals. They had hardcore client protection and privacy policies, but they did not _ever _touch money they knew was dirty. If Brayrak found out that someone in the Moridon financial system was laundering money, he'd have an apoplectic meltdown, and the dreaded Standards and Practices Oversight Commission would be all over the offending bank. On Moridon, money laundering was a crime that potentially carried the _death penalty_.

There was little more he could do in that area for now, so he was here in Brazil to work on the problem from another angle. He'd called Mikano and had her arrange a meeting with her sister Sano, and Jason was over the city in the heavy cruiser _Ovellar_ along with two frigate escorts, heading for a café near her apartment where they were going to meet; Shio custom prohibited him from visiting her apartment, because one never visited the house of a young, single Shio of either gender that one didn't know unless it was a matter of grave importance, and Jason didn't feel that this met that threshold. And while she may not follow that old tradition, Jason was sensitive to the cultural norms of others. It would have been entirely improper to even _ask_ to meet at her apartment. Sano Strongblade worked for the Federation News Network as a video content editor, she was one of the people that created video clips and graphics that news channels used for their pieces. She'd lived on Terra since the Shio evacuated to the planet during the Consortium War, one of the Shio that never went back to the Federation. Jason had brought up a picture of her, and he could definitely see the resemblance to Mikano. Her features were a little sharper than her older sister and her hair a different color, but the same general facial structure was the same…and that made her just as pretty as Mikano.

Mikano…she was fully settled into her new command. Two months ago, she'd been transferred off the _Javelin_ and had taken command of the _Defiant_. Much as she excelled as the captain of the most prestigious frigate in the fleet, both Jason and Juma felt it was time for her to start working her way up the chain by taking command of a larger ship. She'd jumped completely over destroyers and was instead assigned to the most prestigious cruiser in the fleet, and as soon as she fulfilled her mandatory minimum time commanding the cruiser, she'd move up to one of the larger ships. Given her skillset, Jason felt she'd do quite well on a battleship. And lucky for him, Juma felt the same. So, in about eight months or so, she'd jump over heavy cruisers and take command of a flag-level vessel.

It was not unusual in the slightest for the captain of the _Defiant_ to jump straight to a flag-level command. If someone commanded the _Defiant_, that meant that they were on the fast track in the first place.

He caused a bit of a row in the crowded streets on the outskirts of downtown Sao Paolo when the three warships slowed to a hover about ten thousand shakra above the city, and Jason exited the port forward landing bay in a U.N. hovercar. His usual complement of four guards was with him along with Aya, Aya and Dera in the hovercar and the others flying escort in Centurion exoframes, which was probably the first time that Terran civilians had seen them. Jason would have preferred not to have the military escort, but Aya was being Aya, and he didn't feel like fighting her over it, especially with her _right there_ to countermand any orders he made to leave the hardware behind. They landed in a parking lot beside the café, and the three Centurions took up a protective triangle around Jason's hovercar, protecting it until he returned.

Besides, he had to admit…the Centurions were _so fucking cool_. Where most exomechs looked cool despite being designed along purely practical lines as a requirement to perform their mission, Centurions just looked awesome for the sake of looking awesome. They could have looked much less aesthetic and more practical, but whoever did the final exterior design thankfully added some flair to the unit to make it look both intimidating and _cool_.

A crowd formed around the three exoframes, which suited Jason just fine, because it kept them from following him into the café. It had several Shio sitting at tables, along with a Shio greeter, and he smiled and greeted him, speaking fluent Shio. That made him smile and escort him and Aya to a table, where they waited for Mikano's sister to arrive. She did so about five minutes later, and Jason would have recognized her even without seeing her picture…she was a shorter, younger version of Mikano, just with different colored hair. She recognized him as well, giving him a surprised look as she was directed to his table. "Y-Your Grace," she said in Faey, not sure if she should bow. "Mikki didn't say I'd be meeting _you_!"

"I told her not to," Jason replied in Shio, motioning for her to sit. "Sorry to intrude so suddenly, Sano, but I need your help with something."

"Mine? Why me, your Grace?"

"Just Jason will do," he told her with a smile. "And it has to do with someone you know in the game you play. Xen."

She gave him a long look, then she gasped. "You're going to help him!"

"I'm here to find out what the hell is going on," he answered. "There's something wrong with the system I put in place to assist the surviving farm workers. They're not getting the help they're supposed to. And since you have a connection to one of them, I decided it would be best to start with you and your friend. But I'm surprised you'd make that connection so quickly."

"I can tell he's…he's still in pain, over what happened to him. So is Rita,," she replied. "We've talked face to face before, and those scars on him—" she shuddered. "I don't see how anyone could be right after that. But he told me that the government doesn't care about him, or others like him. I hope you're here to fix that."

"You bet I am," he declared strongly, which made her smile. "Who is Rita?"

"She's another farm worker that plays the game. She goes by Emelda in the game," she replied. "The three of us have been doing some quests together."

"The Grand Crusade quests?"

She flushed a bit. "Yes," she replied. "I'm the Savasa champion. I'm surprised you know about those."

_[Cyvanne, you hear that?]_

_ [Sure did.]_

_ {Track down who Emelda is. She's also a surviving farm worker,] _he communed back to Karis.

_[Rita Estobar, lives in El Paso, Texas,]_ she answered. _[I've already got her file.]_

_ [Send it to my gestalt. If I have time, I'll swing by there and talk to her.]_

_ [On its way.]_

"I helped test the game in the alpha and closed beta stage," he admitted. "It's a product of a Karinne software company, and I pulled a few strings to get into the testing. I though the game looked very fun."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"I'd be surprised if you did. Anyway, to get to the point of the matter, Sano, I need your help."

"How so, your—Jason?"

"I'm trying to get an idea of how much help Xen has gotten since he left the farms, but he shuts down as soon as anyone he doesn't know tries to talk to him," he replied. "So, we decided to try talking to him in his own territory, as it were. So, what I want you to do is to set up a meeting, introduce him to me inside the game. We think that if it comes from someone he knows and trusts, he'll be more willing to talk."

"I can do that, but we'll have to be careful," she answered. "I know him very well, Jason, and he's very…skittish. If he thinks I'm intruding into the parts of his life he keeps secret, he'll never talk to me again."

"I fully understand that, that's why we're doing it this way," he replied. "I'm not going to hide who I am, and we have another reason we want to talk to him. That way he doesn't think we're meddling."

"What is that?"

"Third Gen simsense is having an interesting effect on some people," he told her. "The skills they're learning in the game, they're able to use them in real life, at least skills that don't rely on the game's physics engine. About a week ago, someone tried to mug Xen, and a security camera caught it. He laid the guy out using the fighting skills he learned inside the game. He looked like a professional martial artist," he explained.

"Really? He never told me he got attacked!"

"He's not the kind of person that would say anything," Jason told her.

"True. True," she nodded after thinking a brief moment.

"So, we also want to talk to him about that, see if he's been able to use any of the other game skills in the real world," Jason continued. "Hopefully, after I get to know him better, he'll talk to me about the other things I want to know."

"You?"

"I have a personal interest in making sure the people who survived the farms are properly cared for," he replied strongly. "If you don't remember, I led the rebellion against the Trillanes over what they were doing to my people. If he's been mistreated by the people I put in place to help the survivors, then heads are going to roll," he growled vehemently. "I promised those men and women they'd be cared for the rest of their lives. They're not going to be forgotten just because it's been fourteen years since the farms were liberated."

She gave him a highly approving look. "You might want to talk to his real life friend, too. Mrima, I think her name is. They work in the same company. She was just transferred to Norfolk, but they still talk every day."

"I already have an appointment with her," he answered. "I have a meeting at the Academy later today, and I'll stop by and talk to her before I attend it."

"Good. Your Grace…thank you. Thank you so much for helping Xen," she said earnestly. "He's a very dear friend, and it hurts me to see him hurting."

He took her hands, which was somewhat forward in Shio culture. "I promise you, Sano, I'm going to do everything I can for him. And I'm in a position to do an awful lot," he said with a gentle smile. "I've had the game devs create a character for me on Methrian, one with some trained skills and equipment so I don't look like a complete newbie. The character's name is Blackfang, and he's a Jagaara."

"On Xen's faction."

He nodded. "That should make it much easier for me to arrange a meeting with him, since I can enter Golden Lion territory without being attacked. I'm going to send your interface a contact number that you can use to let me know when and where to meet him. The next time you talk to Xen, arrange a meeting with me, then let me know."

"I will. We're supposed to meet at his house in-game tonight after we get off work, us and Rita. We're preparing for the big final battle of the Grand Crusade. I can talk to him about it then."

"You're already at the end of it?" he asked in surprise.

"Well, we're a small server, and not long after it started, all of us champions decided to suspend raiding and other activities and focus on the Grand Crusade," she answered. "With all of us working on it together, we managed to get through all the other quests."

"Well, I'm glad to see that there's a big epic battle at the end," he said with sincere eagerness. "The orc invasion last year was all kinds of fun."

Her eyes brightened. "You play the game?"

"When I have time, which isn't very often," he said with a rueful chuckle. "I helped test the game, and even then I could see its potential. It was so much fun that I just moved over to live when the game was released. Couldn't keep my test character, though. That sucked."

"Well, give your devs a big raise, Jason. It's the most fun game ever."

"Shh, I don't want them getting egos even bigger than they have now," he said in a voice that made her burst out laughing. "I'm afraid I'm out of time, I need to be in Norfolk in an hour. The contact number should be messaged to your interface any second."

"I have it," she said, touching her interface.

"Alright, just contact that number when you arrange things with Xen. If I can't make it, I'll make sure to get a message to you."

"Alright. Thank you, Jason. I'm so glad someone's going to help Xen and Rita."

"It should never have come to this point," he said with a stony face. "And I'm going to make sure it never does again."

"Good."

After saying goodbye to Sano, he, Dera, and Aya returned to the hovercar, and Aya lifted them off. _That sounds like someone much more worried about someone than a friend would be,_ Dera noted lightly.

_Nothing wrong with that. Mikano said her sister is a total sweetheart, and she wasn't joking. This Xen guy better feel lucky a girl like her likes him that much. You pick up anything worth noting? I was closed off so I didn't make her uncomfortable._

_ Just that her concern for Xen goes beyond him being a friend,_ Aya answered. _Just don't mention it to her, she hasn't figured that out for herself yet. And she's outraged over what happened to him on the farm._

_ Good, she has every right to be. Anyone with a conscious would be,_ he nodded. _And what is it about women that they can never understand their own feelings?_ he asked, giving Aya a sly sidelong look.

_Not Faey women,_ Dera retorted.

_Well, yeah, but you guys are more like men than women anyway,_ he replied with deliberate flippantness.

_Or perhaps it's Terran men that are more like Faey women?_ Aya replied with subtle snark in her thought.

_Can't disagree with that. I've always wondered if that makes me a closet homosexual,_ he replied casually, which made both of them give him a double-take.

_[Found out more on Emelda,]_ Cyvanne told him. _[And get this, her file is also flagged eyes only by the Medical Service.]_

_ [I'm not surprised,]_ he answered. _[Any word from Miaari on that?]_

_ [Not yet, she's still working on it.]_

_ [Keep me informed.]_

_ [You bet.]_

Mrima Mrauriu was a typical Pai. She was tiny, she was adorable, and she was _damn smart_. She'd transferred to Norfolk to take over as supervisor of the accounting department in MM's Norfolk office, which put her right there by the Academy, where both of her kids were attending. That both of her kids had won a spot to come to the Academy in person said how smart they were, and how well she raised them. Jason was intentionally vague about his visit to her because he didn't want Kevin Ball to get too worried that Jason was snooping into every aspect of his life, meeting with her during her lunch and asking her a few questions about him that she'd feel comfortable answering. But since she was Pai, she managed to unravel the real reason he was there pretty quick.

"Something went wrong, didn't it?" she asked after telling him a little about Kevin as a person.

"Something did. He should have never gotten to this point," he nodded. "There's a problem with the system I put in place to help the farm workers, and I'm going to fix it. But I'm also trying to determine how badly people like Kevin were hurt because of my mistake."

"Mistakes happen. It's how you fix them that truly counts," she said sagely.

"We'll see what it's going to take when I get an idea of the full extent of it," he grunted.

"I just hope he's okay down there," she sighed. "I was his only real friend, at least in the company. He's almost afraid of other people. I guess he saw me as non-threatening, since I'm Pai," she smiled up at him. "But he's a great kid. He has no business working that dead end job, as smart as he is, he should be a manager, not a wage slave."

"He shouldn't need to work at all."

"That's one of the few things I got from him . He said that the settlement they got from the Trillanes only lasted about nine years," she told him. "After the money was gone, him and the others like him had to find work."

"That's not how it was supposed to work," he said firmly. "Farm survivors are supposed to get a check every month."

"I looked into it after Kevin told me how it works from his side," she said. "The survivor's fund is there, but from what I managed to dig up, only about a quarter of the people eligible for it actually get money from it. I tried to get more information, but the U.N. shut me out of their public archives."

Jason gave her a sharp look. "Do you have that data?"

"On my vidlink at home."

"Can you send it to someone for me? I think it may help her with her investigation."

"I'd be happy to."

Instead of going to see Rita, he returned home and dug into some of the information Mrima pulled from the archives, and after cross-referencing it with what he took from the Department of Farm Management, he could see what was going. The fund was still there, but what they were doing was kicking everyone off of the program they could, for the most flimsy and petty of reasons. The department had instituted a labyrinthine and convoluted bureaucracy that the farm survivors had to navigate to get their money and keep their payments coming, and that bureaucracy was designed to make them fail. It was specifically set up to keep as many people as possible from getting money from the department. They kicked people off for the tiniest mistake in their paperwork or a failure to file a form or answer a query, and once they were out of the system, it was virtually impossible to get back in.

But yet, from what Jason could dig up, the fund that paid those benefits steadily depleted at a rate that exceeded the number of beneficiaries…which meant that their payments were being stolen and redirected.

Good God, the corruption in that office was as audacious as it was intolerable. They were stealing that money right out from under the noses of the auditors. It was basic math, anyone that took even the most fleeting of looks at the books could see that they didn't add up.

Unless the auditors were looking the other way on purpose.

He was nearly in meltdown territory by the time he finished digging through the U.N. budget, almost line by line, with Kumi. Kumi was a woman not afraid to do a little grifting herself, and she was especially adept at nosing it out…to make sure nobody in her department was pulling off scams except _her_. _Trelle's nipples, these guys are so clumsy it's ridiculous,_ she sent, her thought tinged with dark amusement as they pored through files. _If they worked for me, I'd fire them for sheer incompetence. It's like they're not even trying to hide what they're doing._

_ They may not. There's a chance that the Department of Fiscal Oversight is part of this,_ Jason answered. _The easiest way to hide something is to bribe the person who's supposed to find it to not look._

_ True enough,_ she nodded. _But it can't be _this_ blatant._

_ Keep in mind that we're looking at data the auditors won't have,_ he reminded her. _It's the department that audits the survivors on its own rolls, and that's one of the fatal flaws in this system. The auditors are getting cooked books._

_ Yeah, but the flaw in the scam is that the payments have to go _somewhere_, and that's how we're gonna track this down._

_ I have Siyhaa running down that lead._

_ Yeah, good choice. She can call in a favor with the Moridon._

_ Exactly. _ He checked the time, then grunted. _Hate to bail on you, but I have another appointment._

_ Aria?_

_ Yeah, almost time to go. Sorry, babe._

_ No sweat, she needs you,_ she sent, giving him a smile and shooing him with a hand. _Just let me know what the Elders say, okay?_

_ You got it._

He met with Aria out on the landing pad, and she almost squealed with glee when he put her in the driver's seat of the skimmer and told her to get them up to the _Pegasus_. The fleet flagship was going to take them to Tir Tairngire, mainly just to give the ship something to do. It had just finished it shakedown cruise about a takir ago, and it had gone straight to picket duty at Karis, which meant they just sat around and did daily duty rotations and drills.

Jeya met them in the landing bay, kissing Jason on the cheek, then taking Aria's hands. "It's good to see you again. Dear Trelle, you're even taller than the last time I saw you!" she said, looking up at her with a smile and a laugh.

"I can't help it, but I like it," she replied. "It's way more fun to be tall than short."

"Tell me about it," Jason agreed. "We ready to roll, Jeya?"

"In about five minutes," she replied as a hologram winked into view beside her. The hologram was male, a tall, burly Dreamer in the pseudo-nude style with the legs fading to nothingness below the thighs. "I was wondering where you were off to, Coran."

_"Apologies for the delay, Captain,"_ he replied. Coran was only about four months old, having been installed in the _Pegasus _during its construction to give him some operational uptime before the ship was completed, so he'd had some time to develop some personality despite his ship only just being certified for active service. His personality indicated that he would be just fine as a CBMOM, because he was curious, astute, disciplined, and most importantly, he was very creative and tended to think outside the box. That kind of creativity was almost mandatory for a CBMOM, because they were the only CB-level biogenic units that saw combat, at least unless Karis itself was threatened. _"I was doing some trans-dimensional quantum equations that Cybi sent me. They are quite intriguing."_

"Oh hell no, you don't mention the words _trans-dimensional quantum equations_ around me, Coran," Jason warned in a voice that made Jeya laugh. "I tried those stage one equations Cyra sent to 3D, and I think my brain is still trying to recover from the shock."

_"That you could do them at all is truly a testament to your mathematical skills, Jason,"_ Coran replied in a voice that was equal parts complement and takedown. That was the other thing about Coran's personality that Jason enjoyed…he was a bit of a scamp. Not Cyvanne levels of scamp, but he had a decided mischievous streak in him, a fact the crew had learned the hard way. He saw pranking the crew as a means to keep them on their toes, but thankfully he never did anything outrageous. His pranks were subtle, very subtle, the kind which make a person doubt reality for a moment before they figured it out. And that made him a perfect match with Jeya, because she needed a little chaos in her otherwise perfect life. Coran would keep her on her toes and grounded, while Jeya would put the discipline on him he needed.

"Oh hush and get us ready to go," Jason told him, which made him smile a little.

"We do need to get going," Jeya agreed. "Coran, if you would, get the ship ready while I escort Jason and Aria to the stateroom?"

_"Of course, Captain. The ship will be ready by the time you reach the bridge." [All active personnel report to duty stations,]_ his commune rippled across the ship.

About an hour later, Jason and Aria were easing down into the atmosphere, Aria flying the skimmer, as they headed for the city of Alaria. It was truly an engineering marvel, a multi-layered city where buildings were the foundations of platforms holding other buildings, and some of the buildings were almost fantastic in their design. Many of them looked outright impossible, relying on armor-quality materials to keep from falling over, and every building, platform, support, and spar was covered in colors. Flowers were planted everywhere, the platforms had dirt installed on them to form grassy parks and gardens, using artificial sunlight on the underside to keep those parts covered over well illuminated and the plants healthy. It created a very nearly surreal cityscape that was teeming with Dreamers. Alaria was a testament to the power of imagination, and it was built in a style that existed nowhere else Jason had ever seen.

There was a deeper meaning to all of it. The Dreamers' power worked on metaphor, imagery, and the first city they built in the Promised Land was a symbolic representation of everything that the Dreamers were. The cityscape blended together to create images that provoked some part of Jason's mind, making him see patterns within the shapes, images, that hinted to him of the future.

Coming here always evoked some feelings from him, because of the planet itself. He always felt welcome here, and he could hear the planet singing to him.

Over the last three years, Jason had not ignored the mystical side of himself. He'd spent many evenings in conversation with the _shaman_, learning from her, but he had yet to do anything but what he already knew that he could do. His ability to communicate using his heart was his strength, and in that regard, he had improved himself. He sometimes almost felt he could hear Karis, in moments of deep peace and contemplation, but a planet like Tir Tairngire, who was healthy and strong, that was a voice he could comprehend with more and more clarity over the years.

The one thing he'd learned from that growth was that planets had very different minds than people. It was very hard to make out the meaning of the song that the planet sung to him, even after years of practice, and often he could only comprehend maybe an emotion, or a feeling. But what he did not deny was that Tir Tairngire wasn't just a ball of dirt and rock. There was something _conscious_ about it, a consciousness that had very different motivations and goals than the tiny specks of life that lived upon it…but it wasn't the planet itself that was alive. The consciousness within Tir Tairngire wasn't the _planet_, it was a representation of all the life that lived upon it, unified into a single entity that had awareness, intelligence, and purpose. It was a mass consciousness that encompassed everything from bacteria to the Dreamers, but that awareness was anchored to the planet. It wasn't the planet, but it couldn't leave the planet. And all who were within the sphere of the collective consciousness of Tir Tairngire became a part of it, even visitors like Jason.

The _shaman_ had a suitable metaphor for his concept of it. Her description was that when enough small lights were brought together, they shined as a single illumination where each point of light was lost in the glow of the others. That was how she described a living planet to him, as a single light formed from the lights of the souls of those who lived upon it. It sounded suspiciously like the Force to him, but he couldn't deny that her description and her beliefs matched up with his own experiences.

Though Jason hadn't really developed his abilities very far, he did feel that he would not be complete without them. His ability to communicate with most sentient life was one of his most cherished abilities, even over his Generation powers, because he considered it far, far more important to be able to _understand_ others than it was to be able to melt their faces.

Aria landed them at the Hall of Reflection, which was the seat of power for the Dreamers. Their government was very loose and a little chaotic, where the Elders of the villages decided the direction of their people, and they did it from the Hall. There were thousands of Elders, so the place was usually very crowded, eternally noisy, and never boring…especially since some Elders were a bit more forceful than others. But what unified all of them was the sense of peace and contentment that had washed over the Dreamers since they came to their Promised Land. Even though they may contend with each other, they were all very happy.

Jason had made an appointment to speak to the most experienced Elders when it came to omen dreams, and he and Aria met them in one of the many libraries in the compound. The Dreamers had brought all of their most important writings and books to this place, which represented every prediction and omen ever recorded, a place where Elders endlessly searched through thousands of shelves, seeking to understand the predictions and omens made in the past. And right along with them were several thousand Haumda priests and researchers, who had brought their own prophecies to Tir Tairngire for study. Nearly half of the libraries were filled with Haumda books, representing tens of thousands of years of predictions made by the Haumda priests of the past. The Dreamers and the Haumda had forged quite a unique and powerful bond over the years, based on their shared cultural connection to prophecy.

There were nearly twenty million Haumda living on Tir Tairngire, and they were welcome here by both the Dreamers and the Karinnes. Jason had told the Dreamers that this planet was theirs to do with as they will, and when they invited the Haumda to come live with them, Jason made sure it happened.

Though the Dreamers and the Haumda represented the largest numbers of people here, they weren't the only ones. The Dreamers allowed just about anyone to come to the Hall of Reflection and study, so just about every race in the Confederation was moving through the halls beyond the study where Jason and Aria were meeting the Elders.

The Dreamers had not shut themselves away from the rest of the universe, and it made Jason very happy to see it. So long as the Karinnes afforded Tir Tairngire military protection from those that would use the Dreamers the way the Syndicate had, they were quite happy to have visitors from other worlds to come to their Promised Land and learn about their prophecies and the Dreamers as a people.

"What you're asking isn't an easy thing, your Grace," Elder Marat told him in the Dreamer's language.. Five Elders sat across from them at a massive table, many ancient tomes scattered across it. "The fact that the dream ends before Aria sees the conclusion is itself part of what she is predicting."

"I don't understand, Elder Marat," Jason replied.

"Not every prediction follows a set path, your Grace," Elder Kalu told him, her dark hair bouncing a bit as she bobbed her head. "What Aria describes is a choice that must be made, and without that choice, then there is no path for her to follow to see what happens next. This kind of prediction is not unheard of, but it is fairly rare. We call it a Crossroads Prophecy, a prophecy that warns of something momentous in the future, but whose ultimate conclusion is in doubt because no decision has been made to influence its direction."

"What it means is that the future Aria sees cannot be predicted because there are two or more equally prescient paths that the future can take," Elder Rovak said, the large man nearly a head over the other four Elders as they sat at the table. He was the oldest of the five, but also the largest and most spry. "As we near the events of her dream, its content may change if one of those choices becomes more likely than the others. But until that happens, your Grace, I regret to say that there is little that can be done. No other Dreamer has reported an omen dream similar to hers, so we don't have a second opinion in the matter."

"It is both a prophecy and an omen, your Grace," Elder Vado said. "But until she sees more, or her dream changes, it's an equal possibility of which it becomes."

"Damn, I was hoping that you might have some way to help her see more of the dream," he said, rubbing his jaw as he looked over at his adopted daughter. "So, she just has to keep an eye on the dream and see if it changes?"

"Exactly so, your Grace," Marat nodded. "Aria, child, does this dream disturb you?"

"Very much so, Elder," she replied. "It's as if there's a feeling of dread permeating it."

"And you feel nothing else?"

"Not that I can remember, but to be honest, the dream upsets me enough to use the sleep inducer for the rest of the night," she replied, a bit sheepishly. "When I wake up, I can't get back to sleep again."

"I know that the dream can be frightening, dear child, but if you want to protect your family, you must face it," Rovak told her. "Each night, try to remember one more detail about the dream. How parts of it make you feel. Colors you see. Things in the background. Any one of them might offer you a clue as to its meaning and help you interpret it. Keep a journal of the dream, write down every detail you pick up, and if you would, share that journal with us so we might study it. And if the dream changes, then inform us immediately, so we might see if another Dreamer is sharing the dream. When we start sharing the dream, then it means that it's coming closer to fruition. Can you do that for us?"

"I…yes, Elder. If it means I can help my family, I'll do my best," she declared.

Jason put his hand over hers and gave her a gentle smile. "If only Aria is having this dream, does that mean it's only something important to her?"

"Not at all," Rovak shook his head. "Often, the most important predictions are given by a single Dreamer, the Oracle most in tune with the future that prediction represents. As the dream nears the time of fulfillment, other Dreamers may start sharing the dream, and each will see it in a different way, because their minds are not the same as Aria's. What we can learn from this is that since Aria is the one having the dream, it concerns her in some way, or possibly the House Karinne, since it is her home."

"Well then, I guess we'll do what we can to help her figure out what it means," Jason told them. "I'll make sure to keep all of you up to speed on anything Aria learns."

"I'll do what I can, Elder," Aria said strongly. "For my family, and for my house."

They went over a few details with the elders, then boarded the skimmer and started back for the ship. Aria was a little quiet as they flew back, but he could see the look of determination on his daughter's face. _It's going to be alright, my little treasure,_ he assured her.

_I'm just a little worried, Dad,_ she replied, glancing at him from the pilot's seat. That she called him that told him how she felt. He wasn't entire sure exactly when she stopped calling him _pam_ and started calling him _Dad_, but it sounded entirely right to him. She had stormed into his life like a conquering general, and she was as much his daughter as his other girls were. _If only I could see the end of the dream. I just hate not knowing if what I'm seeing is good or bad, even though the dream itself fills me with dread._

_ Not all good things come from good events,_ he told her. _The last ten years shows that, at least as far as the house is concerned. We had to fight to get to where we are, and there were quite a few rough patches along the way. Since the day the Consortium showed itself, we've been embroiled in wars, intrigue, and even episodes of despair. But look where that road led us,_ he sent with dignity. _We can only hope that the dread you feel in the dream represents the fact that we have to work for that happy ending, and it won't be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is._

_You've been hanging out with the Parri too much, Dad,_ she accused with a slight smile.

_Oh, hush and get us aboard the _Pegasus_, you impertinent little whelp,_ he retorted with a shooing motion. That made her laugh.

That wasn't the end of his day. He had one more fairly important appointment on his calendar, but it was scheduled for 03:20 early the next morning, when everyone else would be asleep. But that was the life of a ruler, where everyone had different daily cycles and every planet was at a different time. It was one reason why scheduling meetings for the Confederate Council could be so tricky, and also why the Confederation ran on a standard time when it came to internal dealings. Because the Confederation was based on Terra, the Confederation Council had formally adopted Terra's 24 hour day cycle to govern its meeting times. The operation of the bureaus that operated on the planet also used the 24 hour cycle so the workers had a set schedule based on the day/night cycle of the planet. However, the CCM ran on a 30 hour day, because it was more efficient from a military standpoint. He spent the afternoon and evening pondering Aria's dream and what it could possibly mean, at least when he wasn't distracted from his musings by his kids and wife. He spent the late evening doing some paperwork as the dream was still in the back of his mind, and then put it aside to get to his scheduled appointment.

He opened his eyes and stepped out of a small alcove in another galaxy, flexing his fingers and looking down at a green-skinned hand that was far higher up from the floor than his own. This was his Benga bionoid, and today's appointment was going to be on E Chaio. In this body, he was known as Jayce Un Ka Rin, a name that did not in any way hide who he was…because that was a moot point now. About two years ago, the Syndicate finally figured out that Galaxy Express was owned and operated by the House of Karinne. However, instead of shutting the operation down, they let the company continue to operate, keeping an eye on it the same way the spies attached to the company kept their eyes on the Syndicate.

It may seem odd that the Syndicate would tolerate an enemy intelligence operation within their territory, but the Benga were anything if not complex people. The Board saw advantage in letting the Karinnes and Kimdori sneak around, because they knew who they were and what they were doing, and it gave the Board a direct line of communication back to the Confederation. If they shut down Galaxy Express, then the Karinnes and Kimdori would simply start up another operation somewhere else, one they _didn't_ know about. It was an example of the old saying _keep your friends close and your enemies closer_. There were any number of Syndicate spies working within Galaxy Express, and Kraal kept his eyes on them as much as they were keeping an eye on him. It was a complex and convoluted relationship that Kraal seemed to relish for some bizarre reason, and it made Galaxy Express _the place_ to go if someone wanted to buy, sell, or acquire information.

In that regard, Galaxy Express had succeeded even beyond Zaa's expectations. The company was a clearing house of information gathered by its many agents, who were in every corner of the Syndicate. _Nothing_ went on in the Syndicate that the company did not know about, and that had brought the Syndicate's intelligence operation into the company to tap into that information itself.

Another reason they didn't move against Galaxy Express was because, in a way, they admired how the Karinnes had done it. They had built the company up from _within_ the Syndicate, operating by the Syndicate's own rules and obeying all their laws. The company didn't try to change or operate against their system, so they tolerated its existence because it did things the Syndicate way. The company obeyed all the rules, it paid its taxes (which were substantial, since it was a shadow corporation rather than an extension of a megacorp), and the Syndicate itself had contracted the company to move personnel and supplies from place to place. And to be technical, there was no real law in the Syndicate against an outside agency setting up an operation within the Syndicate's system.

But most importantly, the Syndicate had learned that Galaxy Express, and the House of Karinne that was behind it, did not see the Syndicate as an enemy. Yes, they were there to keep an eye on Andromeda, but the contacts between them and the Board had not been hostile. When Galaxy Express learned something that it felt was a threat to the Syndicate's commerce system in a certain part of Andromeda, they informed the Black Sashes, who were the Board's intelligence department. They shared certain bits of the intelligence they gathered with them, and helped keep the peace within Andromeda as the tensions between the megacorps had started to rise. The House of Karinne was very much invested in the Syndicate remaining stable, because they had their _own_ business interest within their system that would be at risk if the Syndicate destabilized.

Since the Karinnes had demonstrated a willingness to play the game by the Syndicate's rules, they allowed the company to operate. And from that, a very tenuous and wary relationship had been formed between the Board and the House of Karinne.

And the biggest reason they let the company run was because it was a model of profitability within the Syndicate, and several of the megacorps surreptitiously studied the business model Galaxy Express employed to see if they could increase their own profits by adopting some of them.. In just three years, Kraal had turned the company into a financial success, a feat Jason felt for which he should be just as proud of as his intelligence operation. Galaxy Express had a sterling reputation within the Syndicate business world as a solid, dependable cargo and personnel transport company that got its cargo to its destination on time, every time, no matter how dangerous that delivery might be, and their rates were very reasonable for the service they provided. Andromeda was a dangerous place for ships to travel since the war ended with the Syndicate, not from Consortium guerillas, but from the large numbers of nopped soldiers that had stolen or salvaged ships and had resorted to piracy to survive…and that was on top of the officially sanctioned privateers and freebooters that megacorps employed to attack the ships of rival megacorps. Syndicate space was like the wild west, and it was why Galaxy Express had to employ a formidable security force to protect their transports. The company managed not only to compete in that chaotic environment, they thrived, and had built a reputation for excellence in the years they'd been in operation.

The main reason the company was so dependable was the men and women that worked for it. The employees of Galaxy Express were _fanatically_ loyal to the company, the core of them the soldiers that had been saved from being nopped, and their loyalty to the company had filtered down into the new employees the company hired as it expanded. Jason had suspected that even the Benga would show loyalty to a company that showed loyalty to them, at least up to a point, and he had been proven right. Galaxy Express paid its workers well, it cared for them, protected them, and looked out for them and their families, and the workers had learned over those three years that they would never find a better job than Galaxy Express. To keep their jobs, they put their heart and soul into the company, and that made it the best place to work in the Syndicate. But over time, that devotion to the company for selfish reasons had evolved to where the people that worked for Galaxy Express had sincere loyalty to the company. And no segment of the company had more loyalty than the Galaxy Marines, the soldiers and sailors that made up the military force that protected Galaxy Express ships. Those were the men and women that the House had saved from being nopped, had given them back their citizenship and their chance to make a comfortable life for themselves, and they had never forgotten it. The Marines protected the company, because the company protected them.

None of the other shadow corporations or sponsored privateers in the Syndicate would mess with them because of their Marines, and that was thanks to the Karinnes' engineering skill and Gen Lun Ba Ru. Gen had trained the company's military forces, and they were outfitted with cutting edge mecha, ships, and equipment. GE Marauders were custom built using the best Syndicate technology, so much so that the Board had sent spies to steal their design specs. Their warships were refitted to be top of the line, using Syndicate tech but innovated beyond Syndicate norms. Their armor was tougher, their shields were stronger, their diffusers more powerful, and their weapons were far nastier, so much so that, again, the Board had sent in spies to steal the plans for the reflex cannons that company warships employed to defend their transports.

Jason was proud of his reflex cannons, because _he_ "invented" them. He had taken the Subrian concept of the weapon and devised a means to build them using only existing Syndicate technology, producing a formidable weapon particularly effective against Syndicate ships. Reflex cannons couldn't be diffused, and since they were a multiphased weapon that didn't require the significant amounts of power that most phased weaponry needed to be used, they allowed ships using Syndicate power plants to employ them in either large numbers or extremely powerful "megacannon" variants, and they could be scaled so they could be used on anything from a Marauder warmech to a super-ship. The main reflex cannons on Subrian command ships could destroy Syndicate super-ships, so they were more than powerful enough to threaten even the largest enemy warship when the megacannon variant was mounted on a GE battleship or command ship, to take on enemy super-ships. On top of that, reflex weaponry was multiphased, so they bypassed the single phase shield technology the Syndicate employed, rendering the vast majority of Syndicate vessels weak to them. The reflex weaponry he developed was so good that Myleena had taken his design concepts and set MRDD to developing a variant of it that ran off Karinne double metaphased power. They'd never adopted reflex weaponry for the KMS because they had other weapons that hit harder and consumed less power, but Jason's work adopting reflex weaponry to Syndicate power had made them energy efficient enough for the KMS take a long, long look at them.

That was the mother of all complements.

It was worth it. To someone not well versed in military theory, having so many different weapons would look counter productive, or a waste of time, but the Syndicate itself had demonstrated the need for a varied arsenal in this modern age of warfare. The Syndicate relied almost completely on just four types of weapons—Torsion weapons, dark matter weapons, hot plasma weapons, and missiles—and when they came up against the Confederation, who could counter all of their weapons, it effectively neutered them. The KMS employed multiple weapon types on their ships despite their own pulse and particle beam weapons being superior, solely because it would give them options if they came up against a foe that could counter pulse weaponry and particle beam technology. Having rail weapons, MPACs, disruptors, plasma torpedoes, even more archaic weapons like Jhri striated multiphased ion cannons and Colonial iso-neutron weaponry, they made it very hard for an enemy to counter _all_ of it.

"Executive Jayce," a Benga secretary said as he stepped out of the small office that held his bionoid in the Wheel. The company now owned nearly an entire arc section of the deep space station, and it was their official corporate headquarters. "General Gen is waiting for you in landing bay six."

"Very good, Mez," he said. Mez Su Dak Vit knew that he was a bionoid, and part of her job was keeping that secret from those outside the company. Everyone inside the company knew that the Karinnes were involved in it and had bionoids, as did the Board, but the general populace of the Syndicate did not. And despite knowing they were working for a former enemy, the employees _did not care_. The Karinnes had earned their loyalty by saving them from being nopped and providing them with stable, good paying jobs. It was a racial trait; most Benga would work for Satan if the pay was good and the benefits package was appealing. The average Benga had no loyalty to anyone but himself, much like many Faey. "How's your daughter doing?'

"She takes her test next segment, Executive, and we have high hopes she'll earn her third stripe," she said, giving him a slight smile. Jason had started a private academy for the children of all employees, and his workers learned real fast that their kids weren't going to get that kind of an education unless they were rich. The Academy used a curriculum nearly suitable for a Karinne school, teaching advanced mathematics, science, politics, and business as part of its main focus as a combination technological and business academy to train the next generation of engineers, scientists, and business leaders…just with a Karinne flavor on them, part of Jason's attempt to slowly influence Benga society to make them…less of the assholes they currently were. They'd had to adapt to the peculiarities of Benga society to make it work, like turning the school into a highly competitive arena where the students had to contend against one another to advance, but it worked. Students earned rank by taking and passing tests in their chosen field of study, and the more rank a student had, the more power and privileges they enjoyed.

A school's curriculum had to tailor itself to the students to be truly effective, and Benga children were highly competitive and just as cunning as Faey children. The easiest way to teach them was to make it a competition to learn, where their scholastic accomplishments gave them rank over others and extra privileges.

"Well, tell her good luck for me."

"I will."

Jason entered the landing bay, which was very busy. They had quite a few ships in today, with the smaller ships running cargo and passengers within the system as the larger ships were in for maintenance between runs to other system. Half the bay was devoted to rows of Marauder warmechs, each of them gleaming with their black lacquered finish and the golden crest of Galaxy Express emblazoned on their armored breastplate. Beyond the airskin shield preventing the bay from decompressing, six ships hung at docks along the rim of the Wheel, two T-170 cargo freighters, one P-29 passenger ship, and three I-3 warships, which were about the size of a Karinne heavy cruiser.

Every one of those ships was Syndicate only in its outward appearance. They'd all been refitted with the next-gen tech that MRDD and other Karinne research arms had devised for Syndicate technology, improving their base technology to the next level. That edge made Galaxy Express warships far more nasty than the ships they faced out in the wild stretches of empty space of Andromeda, with superior armor, more powerful shields, stronger diffusers, and their biggest advantage, their reflex cannons. Jason had also brought in other KMS standard practices to the Galaxy Marines, such as their own version of Crusader armor systems, the use of drones and spinners, and what shocked most outside the Syndicate the most, Galaxy Express allowed other races to pilot warmechs, not just Benga.

But there was one unit in the bay that had _forbidden_ technology in it, and that was Gen's personal Marauder. It was equipped with an interface system that allowed him to control the mecha directly through mental command, a system integrated into the mecha and his helmet so he didn't have to wear an external interface. Kimdori in Benga shape were the only ones allowed to work on his mecha, which kept its secrets safe, the "hand-selected" ground crew Gen had assembled to maintain his warmech.

"Ready to go, Jayce?" Gen asked.

"Sure am," he replied. "I just wish I could use a Marauder."

"That would look completely out of place," Gen told him. "You're going to a meeting with a member of the _Board_, Jayce. You don't show up for something like that piloting a warmech."

"It would sure make me feel less vulnerable," he grunted, which made Gen chuckle.

He boarded a civilian personnel transport, a sleek, handsome TP-36 Starliner Executive model, then seated himself in the cockpit with one of Gen's Reavers in the co-pilot's chair. Her name was Bei Ji Man Ver, and she was both Gen's protégé and his second in command in the Reavers. She was a gifted rigger despite being extremely young, the equivalent Terran age of around 25, and she exemplified the very un-Bengalike loyalty to commander and company that employees of Galaxy Express demonstrated. But unfortunately for Gen, Bei's loyalty was far more than just professional. Kraal had confided that Bei was _smitten_ with Gen, which wasn't absolutely unheard of in Benga society. Love was seen as a youthful frivolity, was referred to as the "young crush," and most Benga grew out of it as they matured in a society that had no place for love within it. Bei's loyalty to Gen was a combination of both his skill as a commander and as an object of affection. But either way, Bei was not a Reaver because she wasn't worthy. She was one of the best riggers the Galaxy Marines had, and nearly three years of training under Gen had turned her into an absolute _beast_ in a warmech. Much like Dellin, she did not look in any way anywhere near as dangerous as she really was…at least to a Benga, and that was half the reason Gen had assigned her as Jason's assistant for this meeting. She was short, she was slender, and she looked more like an office worker than a Marine, but that woman was all muscle and she was particularly adept at hand to hand combat when outside of a warmech. If this meeting turned violent, Bei could protect him without needing a weapon.

Bei was also _adorable_…at least for a 4.5 meter tall giant with green skin. She was considered quite petite among Benga, very short and slender, but well gifted with a generous bosom and sensual hips that made it clear that she was a fully grown woman. She had a face that just radiated cuteness, with eggshell colored hair and luminous violet eyes that Jason felt were her best feature.

"Engine start complete, Executive Jayce," she reported. "We're ready to depart."

"Alright, Bei, let's go get this overwith."

It took them about three hours of sublight travel to reach E Chaio from the Wheel (hyperspace jumps from inside the E Chaio system by anyone but Board members and Syndicate military warships was prohibited), and they landed on the roof of Dynamax Technologies right on time. Jason had changed into proper business attire on the trip in, so when Bei opened the hatch, he looked like any other Benga business executive with his gray tunic, leggings, and soft black boots, attire that almost looked military…and in a way, it _was_. It was a tradition that went back over 10,000 years in Benga society. The insignia of Galaxy Express was emblazoned on a badge on his shoulder. Four aides met them on the landing pad, and conducted them inside the building. After three separate security sweeps, they were led into a gigantic office that took up nearly a quarter of the building's penthouse floor. This was the personal office of Dai Su Jam Ber, CEO of Dynamax Technology and the current biggest mover on the Syndicate Board. Dai Su's plan to modernize the Syndicate had been adopted by the Board, and as a result, Dynamax was seeing record profits from their contracts with the Board and other megacorps to supply them with cutting edge tech. "Executive Jayce," she said in a silky voice, standing up from behind her desk.

"Chief Executive Dai Su," he replied respectfully, he and Bei stopping and bowing when she addressed them. As his superior, she had the right to address him by only one name, where custom demanded he address her by her first two. "I do hope we are not late?"

"You are right on time," she replied, motioning towards the seats in front of her desk. Two guards stood behind her chair, and two more at the entrance to the office, which was standard procedure for Board members. Dai Su was fairly young for a CEO and quite attractive, tall (for a Benga) and shapely, her CEO attire cut to flatter her figure and provide a peek of cleavage. But like Bei, her youth was just a smokescreen that concealed her true potential. Jason considered her by far the most intelligent of the members of the Board, and possessed of a vision and foresight that gave her drive and purpose. But, she was also just like the other Board members in that she was absolutely ruthless and had no morals whatsoever. Greed was the only drive in her life, and _any_ action was justified in her mind if it increased her wealth or advanced her company.

In that order.

It was greed that had brought this meeting to pass, and Dai Su wasted no time in exposing it. "We've considered your proposal, and we are interested. We would be amenable to entering into certain agreements with Galaxy Express concerning the next-gen technology your research division develops for use by the company. But the question is, why are you selling them?"

"We have decided it brings more profit to sell the specs of at least some of our more desired inventions and advances rather than have them stolen, given we don't have the resources of a Board corporation. Bei," he prompted. She opened the small case she was carrying, and removed five Syndicate data storage cards from it. "These data cards hold the specs for our SB-317 shield modulation system, which turns standard shields into a multiphased system that makes them approximately 141% stronger than standard shields. The modification also allows the shield to resist multiphased weaponry."

"And you would sell us this, and other advancements?"

"For you to turn around and sell to the Syndicate military, yes," he replied. "For thirty percent of your profit from that contract. The military won't buy from us, but they _will_ buy from Dynamax. I believe that places our two companies in a position to earn profit by working together. We will supply you with our advances, and in turn, you will pay us a percentage of the profits you earn marketing those advancements to the rest of the Syndicate."

She gave Jason a long, assessing look. "I assume this one knows who you really are?"

"Of course she does," he replied. "We haven't hidden who owns Galaxy Express from our employees."

"Then I'll be direct. Why are you outfitting your enemies with advanced technology?"

"You mistakenly assume that the Confederation sees the Syndicate as an enemy," he replied. "So long as you don't try to invade our galaxy and start a war with us, we are more than amenable to engaging in trade with you. But, with current sentiment towards the Confederation in the Syndicate being what it is, we decided that a more…subtle approach would be necessary to establish those trade relationships. We established ourselves in your system using your rules, and now we're seeking to open a trade relationship. We can start small, such as with the advances that we've made studying your technology, and in time, we can expand that relationship into other areas, such as commodities and manufactured products. And to be honest, Chief Executive Dai Su, right now, the Syndicate Navy _needs_ to refit itself to deal with the modern world," he said bluntly. "It's our opinion that a healthy, prosperous Syndicate is critical for peace between our galaxies. And the first step is to ensure that the Syndicate Navy has the decided edge against the sudden large numbers of pirates and freebooters that have sprung up across Andromeda."

"That was our own fault," she growled, surprising Jason with her candor. "I told them it was a mistake to nop so many trained soldiers as they drew down the Syndicate military after the Consortium was defeated, but they were more interested in the profit margin. They showed some serious lack of foresight."

"I'm glad to hear that at least one member of the Board can see the bigger picture," Jason told her with an approving nod. "The attacks on our own transports and convoys has proven that our systems are effective in repelling the pirates. We're willing to sell those advances to the Syndicate Navy through Dynamax to get their ships up to where they can easily trounce pirate fleets."

"And how much of this technology are you willing to sell?" she asked, leaning a little on her desk.

"Most of it," he replied. "Our armor, our shields, and a modification to ship power plants that increase their power output and reduce power decay through conduits."

"And the reflex cannons?"

"We have no real need to sell what has already been stolen," he replied calmly.

"Dynamax wasn't the ones who stole it. And I'd be willing to pay for those specs."

"You can get the specs from the Black Sashes."

"I can get the _blueprints_ from the Black Sashes. I want the _specs_. I want the journal reports of the scientific theory behind how they work and the lab records documenting the development of the weapon for my scientists to study. They can learn much more studying the written theory and lab work of the research team that invented the weapon than they can looking at an engineering schematic."

"You almost sound like a scientist, Chief Executive."

"I started at Dynamax in a research lab as an assistant," she told him proudly. "I _am_ a scientist. Dynamax has a long history of its CEO and board members rising to those ranks through the research division. After all, we are a _technology_ company. The executives must have a technical background to better serve the company's core mission."

"That's an approach I can respect, Chief Executive," Jason told her with an approving nod. "I myself am something of a dabbler in science."

Bei nearly rolled her eyes. She was fully aware just how good Jason was at technology, given he was one of the few people allowed to work on Gen's Marauder.

"Then you fully understand why I want the specs for reflex weaponry."

"We can't give you _everything_, because it involves some active research projects our science division is undertaking," he said thoughtfully, tapping his chin with a finger. "But there's quite a bit of research data we can turn over to you. I think we can do business in that regard, Chief Executive."

Though they had an agreement in theory, nothing was ever that simple when it came to the Benga. Bei and Dai Su's guards were forced to wait and listen as Jason and Dai Su engaged in some fierce negotiations over just how much Galaxy Express would hand over and how much they'd be paid for what they gave. Jason was a skilled negotiator, but Dai Su proved she deserved to sit in the CEO chair by bargaining with the cunning of a Kirri, the intelligence of a Moridon, and the tenacity of a Zyagya. Though Jason wasn't entirely worried about how much they made out of the deal, Dai Su would not take him seriously in the future if he rolled over in the negotiations, so he fought like a starving hyena over every percentage point and tekk.

After nearly three hours (or about two and a half divisions) of negotiation, Dai Su offered an official contract to him that would have Galaxy Express sell six different technological advancements to Dynamax in return for 19.5% of the profits they earned by selling that technology to other corporations. The information would include the theory behind the science on top of the engineering specs to build it. The etiquette at play here would give Jason three days to review the language of the contract, and then they'd meet again to officially notarize the contract, which sealed it. He'd need those three days to have his legal experts go over the contract to ensure it said exactly what Jason wanted it to say, since Benga contracts were convoluted and intentionally vague to allow loopholes to slip through.

"I believe that once this contract is notarized, we'll have a very profitable future in this joint venture, Executive Jayce," she said with a predatory smile as he gave the data card holding the contract to Bei, who slipped it into her case. "Inform my secretary when your review team completes their task, and we'll schedule the official notarization."

"I will. Thank you, Chief Executive Dai Su," he said as the two of them stood, then bowed to her. "With your permission, we shall return to our headquarters."

"Travel safely, Executive."

Jason didn't say a word until they were back on the Starliner and nearly halfway back into space. He called back to HQ to inform them they were on the way back, and it was Gen of all people that answered him. _"Was it a profitable meeting, Jayce?"_ Gen asked.

"On its face, but we'll see how good the contract is once I have it reviewed," he answered. "But she did jump all over the offer."

_"That's to be expected. So, when are the refits to GE ships going to be done to keep us one step ahead of the Syndicate Navy?"_

"They start next segment," he replied. "The specs should have been sent down to the maintenance crews already, and the parts and equipment are on the way from the factories at Site Thirty."

"Any Marauder upgrades?" Bei asked.

"Several. I think the Reavers are going to like the Mark IV Marauder," he said with a smile over at her. "The biggest upgrade is going to be something that all of our people are going to have to consider before they accept it."

_"How do you mean?"_

"My people have invented a jack compatible with Syndicate mesotronic computer architecture."

_"Jacks? You're going to offer us _jacks_?"_ Gen asked in sudden interest.

"Yes," he replied. "But these are going to be rather special jacks, Gen. They won't have an external port. They'll be internal, and will link to a dedicated exo unit that serves as the interface. If my people built them right, Syndicate scanners won't see the synaptic connectors as artificial, since they'll be built of _organic_ components. Syndicate scanners should mistake them for nerves and ganglia. The only part of it that'll register as artificial will be the comm node that will be just behind your left ear, anchored to the bone back there. And that won't look too much out of place, since we disguised it to look like the panic unit that most executives have implanted."

_Panic units_ were technology that Benga executives had implanted in their heads. It was a computer that monitored vital signs and bodily functions, and if it detected anything anomalous, it notified the user and appropriate medical and/or military personnel. That hastened response to the executive if he was under attack, having a medical issue, or was poisoned. And being poisoned was the most common hazard that an executive may face in his day to day life.

"I could pilot a bionoid with this jack?" Bei asked.

Jason nodded. "And connect your mind directly to your Marauder the way the Karinne riggers do. Even pilot it remotely," he added. "That's the main reason we researched this, we want to get our riggers over here merge capability. It _vastly_ increases your combat survivability, and allows you to pilot your rigs by remote," he told her. "When it comes to our soldiers, their survival is always the highest priority in anything we design for them."

"It reduces training costs," Bei said reflexively.

"It keeps you alive, and that's what concerns me most," he told her, glancing over at her. "Gen, I'm going to have some people over to train you in how the jacks work. Since you know what jacks are and what they do, I'll let you come up with how we explain them to our employees. And should I put you down for getting one?"

_"That's a stupid question, Jayce. I want one as soon as they're available."_

"You'll be the first in line," Jason assured him.

_"They'll have all the same abilities as the jacks you use?"_

"Virtually. Since Syndicate mesotronic computers aren't exactly designed to work with an interface, merging to external Syndicate computer assets will require an emulation program that'll be integrated into your exo unit, but everything else should work the same. GE computer systems are going to be upgraded to add merge functionality, so you'll have a much easier time of it using company systems."

"Are they worth getting, Commander?" Bei asked.

_"Yes,"_ Gen replied immediately. _"I've used a mind to machine interface before, when the Karinnes hired me to consult for them, so I know just how useful they are. But the one I used was not nearly as good as the system the Executive is offering us now, because the jack system will allow us to _become_ our machines. It will move like our own bodies, and we can control all of its systems directly with our minds. They will turn the Reavers into the most feared warmech squadron in the Syndicate,"_ he said fiercely.

"It'll get even nastier than that, Gen. Guess who's going to come over and do your initial assimilation combat training with your warmechs?"

_"Kyva?"_

"Yup. She's been itching for another scrap with you, and she said this time she wants to do it in a Marauder. So, she's agreed to do the combat merge training for the Reavers, and the Reavers will train everyone else."

_"That's an even better reason to look forward to this,"_ he said eagerly.

"We'll finally get to see this Kyva that Commander Gen goes on about," Bei said.

_"Kyva is the only warmech pilot to ever beat me in combat, Captain,"_ Gen said with candor. _"She's the most talented warmech pilot I've ever seen, and she'll be the perfect trainer to introduce the Reavers to jack operations. Besides, I wouldn't accept any trainer that wasn't at least as good as I am in a warmech."_

"That's the other reason she's coming. We figured that only Kyva could really train you correctly in piloting using a jack, Gen. She's the only one that could possibly understand your skills, since the two of you are in a league of your own when it comes to piloting a warmech. With her teaching you, we know it'll be done right."

_"I need to call her and thank her,"_ he said. _"I'm looking forward to the match as much as the training."_

"She's still mad over the last match," Jason laughed. "You beat her fair and square. I think that's what infuriates her most of all. Losing was a new experience for her, and one she doesn't like one bit."

_"That's the proper attitude of a warmech pilot,"_ Gen said approvingly. _"But in fairness to her, it did take me nearly three orbits to finally do it."_

"True enough," Jason chuckled. "But I get the feeling that once you have a jack of your own, she'll find you to be even more of a challenge than you are already. I think that win loss record is going to skew in your favor once you finish your assimilation training."

Bei gave him a nearly disbelieving look…probably over the concept that someone could _beat_ Gen Lun Ba Ru in a fight, and had been doing it consistently for over two orbits.

Jason spent most of the flight back explaining what jacks were to Bei, and by the time they landed in the landing bay back at HQ, she was completely sold on the idea. "The technology your people possess almost seems like magic," Bei said as they came down the steps, several ground crew securing the ship behind them.

"Magic is an entirely different thing," he chuckled. "Science is the main reason that my house exists, Bei. We are completely focused on it. In many ways, we are the Confederation's version of Dynamax. So it's no surprise that our technology is a step ahead of everyone else's."

"So what _is_ magic, then?"

"The definition we use is that it's a force or power that can't be explained by science that can perform actions that go against the natural order, yet exists despite that seeming impossibility," he replied. "And I've seen it before, so it's very real."

"Really," she said dubiously, looking over at him. "Magic is real."

"I've seen it with my own eyes," he replied. "Of course, the person who performed the magic doesn't believe that it is magic, but I disagree. I can't explain how she does what she does, and our science can't explain it either. That is the very definition of magic. At least our definition," he added lightly.

"What did she do that was magic?"

"She stuck her hand elbow deep into a tree and pulled an object out of it, without doing any damage to the tree," he replied. "I still have that object. I look at it any time I start to allow my engineer's training to dominate my thinking. It reminds me that the universe is far bigger than I could ever imagine, and I should never allow narrow thinking or my own preconceptions to blind me to that reality."

"Huh," she sounded, looking at the deck as they walked.

"Don't think about it too hard. Trust me, I speak from experience," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "Thank you for your diligence today, Bei. You kept me safe, and the security of knowing that let me keep my mind on the meeting."

"I was doing my job, Executive Jayce," she said modestly.

"And an outstanding job it was. Now, I'm going to go delink and get some sleep. I'll be back over here in a couple of days with more information about the upgrades."

"We'll be ready."

"I know you will."

_Koira, 3 Shiaa , 4408, Faey Orthodox Calendar_

_ Friday, 8 July 2022 Terran Standard Calendar_

_ Koira, 3 Shiaa, year 1333 of the 97__th__ Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar_

_Foxwood East, Karsa, Karis _

His body was on Karis, but his mind was on Terra.

Checking his item storage, Jason made sure that Cyvanne didn't prank him by not transferring everything over. He was on his character, but it was the copied character on the Methrian server in Terra's server cluster, and he'd be meeting with Sano, Xen, and Rita as soon as he could get to the Citadel. Xen had bought a house in Citadel City, an NPC up there that hosted players as they adventured across Citadel, and from what he was told, that was more or less the hang-out of Xen and the few friends he had in the game.

Getting up there would be easy. The Citadel was already unlocked on Primus, and he had the scion just outside Citadel City marked, so he could use the Teleport spell to get to it from anywhere in the game. Cyvanne had made sure to copy his scion markers over to Methrian.

Confident he had everything, Jason equipped his gear (he'd been copied over naked, with all his equipment in item storage) and spared a moment to wander around Twinfang a little bit to see how different it was on a different server. Most of the main buildings were all the same, he noticed, but some of the smaller buildings were different, and there was a whole lot of empty space within Twinfang on this server. The different buildings were most likely player-owned buildings, and all the empty lots were where players could buy land and build their own houses or shops. Methrian was the least populated server in the Terra server cluster, and the Golden Lion faction wasn't very popular on this server, so Twinfang looked almost…deserted.

Seriously deserted. He walked around the merchant district of the city and only saw nine other players, where on Primus, he'd see _hundreds_ of other players walking the same route.

But there were lots of players on at the moment. Methrian may be the smallest server on Terra, but it was the server that had advanced the Grand Crusade further than any other. The big final battle of the epic questline was coming up in a few days, and from what Jason learned preparing for this, tons of players from other servers in the Terra cluster had created characters on Methrian just to take part in the battles. They'd done so about ten days ago, and had been working to raise their skills and get some equipment so they could participate in the event. So right now, there were swarms of newbie players in the starting areas of the faction, working hard to get as prepared as possible for the battle that was going to take place in the human capitol of Freeport in five days. From what he'd read about it, it was going to be a naval invasion of some NPC human faction called the Kanlon, who had allies called Sahaugin, which were aquatic scaled humanoids. The two NPC factions were trying to capture Freeport, which was the largest city on the west coast of Arcavia and a major seaport, and it was part of an overall campaign where the Kanlon was trying to take complete control of the oceans to the west and south of Arcavia. They were also going to attack a city called Vistara, which was a player faction city on the central southern coast, which was also a major seaport. To do that, the Kanlon had enlisted the aid of the Salamanders, a subterranean race of fire-dwelling creatures whose objective was to burn the entirety of the surface of Arca to ash, the way they had destroyed the sister world to Arca in the game, Netherim. Netherim was a blasted wasteland of ruins and vast deserts because of the Salamanders, and now they were trying to do the same thing to Arca. The Salamanders were going to simultaneously attack Vistara and the player faction east of Vistara, the Silver Blade faction, which was located within a gigantic ancient forest called the Luran Forest. While they did that, the Sahaugin and their sea giant allies would attack the western side of the Golden Shire player faction, invading just west of the faction border in an area known as the Sea of Grass. The two fronts would split the Golden Shire forces, while the attacks on the Silver Blade and the Golden Lion factions would prevent them from aiding the Golden Shire.

It was a convoluted battle plan, but the tactician in Jason saw the value of it. By attacking on multiple fronts, they were preventing the players and their NPC allies from massing into one giant army to take them on. In game terms, it meant that instead of the Grand Crusade ending in one giant, glorious battle the way the orc invasion event did last year, it would instead be spread across three battlefields across the entire southern coast of the continent.

That was truly a _Grand_ Crusade.

Since Jason had two Blackfangs on two different servers, he'd get a chance to fight in two different battles with all his skills and gear, so he was looking forward to that.

But he was wasting time. He teleported to the scion on Citadel and moved into the city, and that was almost the same as Primus. Citadel City didn't have any open plots, all the buildings were already built, so it was almost like walking down the street of Citadel City on his own server. He had an address, and when he found it, he was a bit surprised. The house that Xen owned was _very_ nice, it was only a block or so from the largest player marketplace in the city, and it was a four story building with a shop on the ground floor and a three story townhouse over it. Like many buildings in Citadel City, it had a private garden on the roof, the branches of a tree up there visible from the ground. He didn't go in the shop, he instead went around to an alley and ascended a stairwell on the back of the building that opened to the lowest floor of the apartment, then he knocked. The door opened immediately—a house's owner could make the doors or windows open from anywhere in the house—and stepped into a very, very odd room. The furniture in this room, and the room beyond, was all built for someone that was three meters tall.

_We're on the top floor,_ Sano messaged him.

He moved to the stairs, through the rooms with furniture too big for a human—someone much taller was renting the floor from him perhaps?—and then glanced the middle floor, which was set up as a research library, then reached the top floor. The stairs opened into the main parlor, the living room of the apartment, and three people were sitting there. One was a human, one was a high elf, and the last was a Savasa, which was a bipedal feline race that closely resembled a Terran cheetah. That was Sano, she told him she played a Savasa in game. The high elf woman was Emelda, Rita in the real world, and the human was Kevin Ball, who went by the name Xen in game.

The name Xen wasn't his own creation. The character Xen Quickstrike was a character from the _Starblade_ viddy show. He was Ethera Starblade's first officer, and was a master swordsman. Both Rita and Kevin looked very disquieted as they looked at him, but Sano stood up and gave him a smile. "Your Grace," she said.

"Thank you for allowing me to see you," Jason said as he walked into the room, his tail slashing a bit behind him. "I'm sure Savar told you who I am and why I'm here?"

"She told us who you're supposed to be, but I find it hard to believe that you're the Grand Duke," Kevin said honestly.

"He is, Xen, he came to see me in Sao Paolo a couple of days ago," Sano said. "I know it's him."

"I asked Sano to arrange this meeting," Jason nodded as he reached the couch opposite them, then sat down, curling his tail around to keep from sitting on it. "I know she told you that her sister is in the Karinne Navy. I asked her sister to talk to her, she agreed, we met, and Sano agreed to talk to you for me."

"Why? Why go through all this subterfuge?" Rita asked.

"I thought it would be easiest on all of us, and more comfortable, if we met here," he replied. "I'm here to talk to both of you, and this way, all three of us can talk without us having to travel in real life to a single place."

"Us? Why us?" Kevin asked suspiciously.

"Because both of you are farm survivors, and there's something going on in the U.N. government that I don't like," he replied. "I wanted to talk to you about your experiences dealing with the Farm Services Department. But there's another reason I want to talk to you, and I'll get into that a little later. So, both of you, how easy have you found it dealing with the DFM?"

Jason interviewed them about their experiences and to a lesser extent their history, from when they were first released from the farms to getting their settlement from the Trillanes to the support and services they were supposed to get from the DFM as survivors. And what he heard made him very angry, because neither of them had gotten virtually _any_ help from the DFM since the day they were given their settlement money. Neither of them had any idea there was even a stipend program that was supposed to be paying them every month, and none of the other farm survivors that Rita knew—she kept in touch with several former workers from her farm—knew about the stipend program either. It was like the DFM had just wrote them off once they got the cash settlement from the Trillanes. They didn't do any follow-up like they were supposed to. They weren't doing the annual interview to see how they were doing. They weren't keeping them informed of changes to DFM policy and law concerning farm survivors. They weren't doing _anything_, forcing the two of them to come to the DFM if they needed help, and when they did, they only revealed what information was absolutely necessary to make them go away.

If this was how they were treating all the survivors…Jason may need to send someone else in to fix it, cause he may strangle half the DFM with his bare hands.

He had to keep his composure as he listened to Rita describe the last few years, which had been very hard on her, which prompted both Kevin and Sano to hold her hands so she could keep calm.

"This was _not_ how things were supposed to work," Jason said in a voice nearly trembling with outrage. "And I promise both of you, I'm going to fix it. And I'm going to fix it _fast_."

"I'm so very glad to hear that, your Grace," Sano said with a smile. "Xen and Rita are my dearest friends, and I want them to be okay."

"Oh, they're going to be okay, I promise you that," he said in a strong voice. "Tomorrow morning, both of you are going to receive a package from a courier at precisely nine o'clock in the morning your local time. It's going to hold a certified voucher representing the money that you were entitled to but weren't paid," he declared strongly. "Take it to your bank and they'll take care of it. And by lunchtime, both of you will be contacted by the DFM, and they're going to give you a comprehensive list of all the services that you should have been receiving all along. Look over the list and choose whichever services you feel will help you. And if the DFM gives you any grief, or they refuse to render those services, I want you to call me _immediately_. I'm going to give both of you a contact number for my office. It will connect you directly to Chirk, my executive secretary. You tell her what problem you're having, and she'll bring it to me. And I'll fix it. Just be warned, guys, she's a Kizzik, so if you're using video comm, be ready. She doesn't appreciate it very much when people who call her scream."

"Thank you, your Grace," Rita said, giving him a surprised look.

"Just Jason will do, Rita," he said with a gentle smile. "Now, as to that other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Kevin, we noticed that you've discovered that you can use your in-game skills in the real world," he said, which made him gasp.

"You mean you _knew_ it was happening?"

"Of course we did, the game was programmed that way on purpose," he replied evenly. "The game had to be done that way to allow people to use their real world skills inside the game and be able to improve them. That has to work both ways, so it means that the skills you learn inside the game, you can use in the real world. Well, some of them. Skills that rely on the physics that exist inside the game don't really work in the real world, but the others will. So, it's not a bug, or a fluke, it's the way the game was designed to work. But we did notice something very interesting, and it involves you. It seems that the third generation simsense is having an interesting side effect on you. It's sped up your reaction speed and reflexes, in effect, it's trained you as if you were an athlete or a martial artist. You have reflexes so fast that it very nearly makes you superhuman, and we're positive that it was the simsense rig that did it. With your permission, we'd like to investigate that a little further. We'd like your permission to access your Medical Service records, so we can try to find out why only certain players seem to be affected by this."

"You're not going to shut down CO, are you?" Rita asked fearfully.

"Oh good lord no, we see this as a good thing," he replied immediately. "There's nothing wrong with the game helping you achieve your full potential, and we've already determined that this side effect is not harmful in any way to those who are being affected by it. We're just trying to track down why some players are being affected and some aren't, and we need access to the affected players' medical records so we can start looking for a common denominator. So, Kevin, you think you can give us permission to access your files?"

He was quiet a long moment. "It was like he was moving in slow motion," he said, mainly to himself. "I could see everything. Every little move he made. The shifting of the angle of the knife. Everything."

"That's why. Your reflexes have been affected by the third gen rig you use and honed by the game to make you faster than Bruce Lee, Kevin," Jason told him. "I dare say it's one reason why you're such a fantastic player, on top of your impressive skills. You have the reaction speed of a soldier or a professional athlete, Kevin, not a desk jockey. The game taught you to fight, but the simsense rig helped you develop the reflexes to use those skills to their maximum potential."

"You said other players are being affected too?" Sano asked.

He nodded. "We're not sure how many, the game devs are running tests while players are logged in and trying to find them. What we do know is that people who are very sensitive to a simsense rig, you know, the ones that have to turn up the limiters to prevent sensory overload, they're the ones that are being affected the most by this side effect. And we're not really planning on telling them about this, because we don't want to frighten them, and it's not hurting them in any way. We see this as a good thing, an unforeseen and beneficial side effect of a third gen simsense rig, and like I said, I have no problem with the rig helping people achieve their maximum potential. If it's helping them, I'm all for it continuing to help them. I'm telling you, Kevin, because I'm confident that we can trust you with this, that you won't blow everything out of proportion and cause a panic. But I promise you, all three of you, we'll never ask you to do any tests or experiments. We're fully aware that the time you spent on the farm may make the idea of that very frightening, and I'd never ask you to do anything you find uncomfortable," he said in an adamant voice. "All we want is access to your medical records, so we can try to find out why you're sensitive to a simsense rig. That's _it_."

Kevin was quiet a long moment. "I…okay. You can have the access," he said. "Do I have to do anything?"

"I'll send you a form that you have to authorize and send to the Medical Service," he answered. "And now that the business is out of the way," he said, leaning forward a little bit. "I'm gonna pick your brain a little bit."

"Over what?"

"I play the game too, and I'm a lot like you. I play by myself most of the time. That's because my job is very demanding, and I can't commit to a schedule, or even be assured I won't be interrupted two minutes after I log on and have to log off. I've been told that you're one of the most experienced solo players in the entire game, so I want to learn a few of your tricks. I have a goal, I want to learn how to beat overworld boss monsters solo so I can try to get Lone Wolf, and you're the only player I know of in the entire game that can kill them so consistently. So, I want to learn how you do it," he said with a smile.

"You _play_?" Kevin gasped.

"This isn't just some random character the devs whipped up for me to come talk to you," he said, patting his chest. "This _is_ my character. My avatar's name is Blackfang, and he's a magician archetype. But, since I have real world fighting skills from my training as a rigger in the Karinne military," he said liltingly, pointing at the hilt of the sword jutting over his left shoulder. "They copied my character off the server I play on, and I'm going to be allowed to keep any loot or spells or items that I get while over here and take it back with me when I go home," he chuckled. "So, when the battle happens at Freeport, I'll be here and I'm gonna fight in it. And I'm looking forward to it. I did the orc invasion event last year, and I've been hoping that they'd do something like that again."

That confession seemed to break the ice with both of them. They got much more interested and animated to find out that he played the game as well, and he quickly found himself in a deep discussion about spells with Emelda, who was also a magician archetype, and using his real-world fighting skills inside the game. They spent nearly an hour just talking about the game, Kevin and Rita getting more and more comfortable with him, to the point where they told him some stories about their history in the game. He was a bit surprised to learn that Kevin and Rita had been mortal enemies since the start of the Grand Crusade, but when they found out that they were both surviving farm workers—they called themselves _pickers_—the feud ended like _that_, and they'd been hanging out together inside the game ever since The loyalty of the farm workers to their own was far stronger than anything that could ever happen inside a game.

The fact that both Jason and Kevin had a somewhat similar approach to the game allowed them to find some common ground. Jason was a magician archetype like Rita, but since he had real world fighting skills, his gear wasn't completely centered around magic. He had enough Strength and Agility on his gear to allow him to do respectable damage, and his sword was custom made by a blacksmith to enhance his spellcasting abilities but also hit very hard in combat. Jason's physical stats were far higher than a typical magician archetype to take advantage of his real world combat training, and that let him fight with a sword very effectively. Kevin came at it from the other direction. He was primarily a melee warrior archetype, but he had very high spellcasting skills and his magic spells hit fairly hard. Both of them were more of the "magic swordsman" archetype than just a magician or a warrior, they just came at it from opposite directions.

And what mattered most to him, he got some advice on how to solo overworld boss monsters, so he could try to get Lone Wolf for himself.

"Huh," he mused after hearing Kevin's advice. "I never thought consumables could be that powerful."

"You don't know the right enchanters," Kevin answered. "The NPC enchanter that makes the consumables I use can make almost anything. I tell her what I need it to do, and she comes up with something. It may not be perfect, or as powerful as I need it to be, but it always helps. And if you're gonna take on a boss monster solo, you need every bit of help you can get."

"I've seen some of the consumables he's used, and yeah, they're pretty crazy," Sano chuckled. "The NPC merchant he buys from must have an insanely high enchanting skill."

"I have enchanting skill, and it's at 1,093," Jason told them. "But I can't make anything like some of the things he described."

"Then I guess you're just not high enough yet," Rita told him.

"Well, gives me a reason to keep working on enchanting," Jason chuckled. "I practice it mainly to help out my guild. I'm the only enchanter we have."

"You're in a guild?"

"On my normal server, yeah. It's made up of most of the kids and our friends around my neighborhood that play the game. My 17 year old neighbor is our guild master, and she's very good at it," he said.

"I'd have thought that you'd be the guild master," Kevin said.

"I don't have the time to commit to the game to handle that kind of responsibility," he replied. "If I get to play for three hours in a takir, then I'm lucky. I'm even luckier if those three hours are uninterrupted."

`"I guess you're really busy, running a planet and all," Rita said. "And I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to someone that does."

"Us planetary rulers are still people, Rita," he grinned.

"We've heard stories that you just walk around on your planet like everyone else," Kevin said.

"When I can. My guard captain sends guards with me if I'm going to a potentially unsecure place, like when I come to Terra, but I don't really need them at home," he said. "I shop at the store, take my kids out to the park, and go to baseball games like anyone else. I don't even live in a mansion, or on an estate, I live in a colonial on the northwest side of Karsa. The only way my house is really different from anyone else's in the neighborhood is there's a guard barracks behind the house for the Dukal Guard that protects my family, and there's a security fence that encloses the neighborhood where I live to give the guards control over who comes and goes. But that fence isn't around my house, it encompasses the entire neighborhood. I wasn't born into this nobility crap. I was born and raised a normal person, and I like to be a normal person as much as possible. I find all the primadonna superiority complex bullshit the others have to be super annoying."

That made them all laugh. "My sister said you're too good to be a Grand Duke. Now I see what she was talking about," Sano said.

"Mikano's been talking about me, eh? I'm gonna have to get her for that," he threatened, which made Sano laugh again.

"You know her personally?" Rita asked.

"I know all my ship captains personally," he replied immediately. "And Mikano also happens to be one of my wife's best friends. They hang out together all the time."

"Mikki's told me about that much," Sano said. "She's told me some pretty wild stories about Duchess Jyslin."

"They're most likely true. And even if they're not, Jys will claim that they are just to make her look cooler," he said, which made Sano laugh again.

_[You need to log out. I have some info,]_ Cyvanne communed to him.

"And speaking of work, it just called," he sighed, standing up. "Afraid I'm gonna have to go, guys. Thank you for the game advice, Kevin, and thank you for giving us access to your medical file. Remember, both of you, a courier is going to come to you tomorrow at nine o'clock your time, so make sure you're either at home or at work. And I promise you, I'm going to get to the bottom of what's going on with the DFM and I'm going to make sure that all the farm survivors get everything they were promised," he declared strongly. "I made you guys a promise when I took over Terra from the Trillanes, and I'm gonna make damn sure that that promise is kept."

"Thank you, your Grace," Rita said. "It's been so long since it felt like anyone cared about us."

"I always have, and I always will," he told her.

Cyvanne had her bionoid there at the house, and she greeted him when he climbed out of the merge pod in the office off his bedroom. It was connected to the vidlink that had the game program in it, which was the same vidlink that everyone in the house that played the game used to connect to the game server. _[What cha' got, Cyv?]_ he asked as she helped him out of the pod.

_[It's more like what we don't have, and why we don't have it,]_ she replied as they walked into his home office. _[Miaari managed to get into the Medical Service mainframe on Draconis. But when she tried to access the eyes only files for Kevin Ball and the other farm workers, she triggered some kind of failsafe program that completely purged all that data from the database. She wasn't able to stop it, but she _was_ able to get some data fragments before the purge was completed. She sent those fragments to Siyhaa to see if she can reconstruct it and get anything out of it.]_

_ [That's the kind of safeguard you'd see in an intel mainframe,]_ Jason observed as he sat at his desk.

_[Yeah, the Medical Service must have gotten the IBI to set it up,]_ she agreed with a nod. _[Siyhaa said she'd send status reports to you twice daily until she has something.]_

_ [Did they trace it back to us?]_

_ [No, Miaari's too good to get traced,]_ she answered. _[But they _do_ know that someone penetrated their mainframe and tried to access that data. That means that we'll be suspected, given we've been asking questions about that data for the last few days.]_

_ [Yeah, guess I'd better get ready for the nasty call from Dahnai,]_ he agreed. _[But, now I'm curious enough to be more direct. Do me a favor and ask Zaa if she's available for a chat.]_

_ [She's over in Jaxtra right now,]_ Cyvanne said.

_[Really? Cool. Zaa,]_ he called over the planetary biogenic network.

_[Yes, cousin?]_

_ [I'd like to talk to you about a job,]_ he replied. _[I want an operative to go to the Medical Service on Draconis and extract some information. It'll have to be done by accessing the memories of the commander of the Medical Service herself, and they'll be expecting someone to try to steal that information, so it's not going to be an easy task,]_ he told her.

_[Handmaiden Miaari has kept me informed about what's going on with the Medical Service,]_ Zaa noted. _[I'll send one of my best infiltrators to Handmaiden so she can brief him on what information she needs.]_

_ [Thank you, cousin,]_ he replied. _[I appreciate your help.]_

_ [You are most welcome, cousin,]_ she replied.

_[I heard that, so I'm sure we'll know what's going on soon,]_ Cyvanne noted lightly.

_[Stop eavesdropping, woman, it's a rude habit,]_ he accused, which made her grin.


End file.
